


Family

by BirdMonster



Series: FE Rarepair Week 2019 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Post-Time Skip, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-22 05:30:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20868965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdMonster/pseuds/BirdMonster
Summary: Cyril visits the Gaspard estate for the first time to meet Ashe's little brother and sister.Written for FE Rarepair Week with the prompt "Gathering." Original characters are my versions of Ashe's siblings.





	Family

“Are you ready?” Ashe asked with a smile, looking back towards Cyril. Their pace halted in front of a pair of elaborately decorated doors. They stood there, hand in hand, as Cyril gave Ashe a nod. He didn’t want to speak lest his voice waver with nerves. “Okay. Just remember that they can be a little… _ much _. But they’re excited to finally meet you!” Ashe almost looked more nervous than Cyril felt, though he wasn’t so sure that was possible. His stomach ached with anxiety ever since the two of them left the monastery.

Cyril and Ashe had been together since the end of the war. Distance fell between them more often than not-- Cyril was a few months through his year as a student at the newly restored Officer’s Academy and Ashe was beyond busy as new head of house Gaspard. In spite of this, Ashe found the time to visit Cyril at the monastery every now and then. This time, however, the academy had given the students a short vacation to visit family. Seeing as Cyril had nowhere to go, Ashe offered to bring him home to meet his younger siblings. Cyril heard countless things about them ever since he met Ashe when they were young, so he figured it was past due time to put faces to their names. Especially since they were bound to be a big part of his life sooner or later. 

He was still nervous about meeting them, though. They were the only family Ashe had left and Ashe was the same to them-- surely they were all protective of one another. What if they didn’t think he was good enough for Ashe? Or what if they had something against Almyra? These were Ashe’s siblings, so the latter didn’t seem likely. But such worries lay in the back of Cyril’s mind whenever he met, well, _ anyone _. He knew Ashe was nervous for his own reasons and it was because of such that Cyril tried not to express his own worries too much. 

After taking a deep breath, Ashe opened the doors and led Cyril inside. It certainly looked like a noble household. Even the stone Cyril walked on appeared more expensive than anything he himself would ever own. The entrance hall alone seemed to go on forever-- he couldn’t imagine how far the entire establishment stretched. The monastery was bigger for sure, but probably not by much. Why did there have to be so much space for so fewer people? It all just made Cyril feel more intimidated. 

“Acker, Kezia! Are you here?” Ashe called, his voice echoing off the high stone walls. “They might be in their rooms,” he said to Cyril when he received no response. “I’ll go get them--”

“Ashe!” A different voice echoed back and Cyril looked towards the sound. Several feet ahead of them were two sets of tall, curved staircases. On the top platform where the left staircase landed was a girl, looking ecstatic at the sight of them. Just as suddenly as she appeared, a boy shot out from a doorway to her right, grabbing onto the handrail to stop himself moments before crashing into the other.

“Oh-- here they are!” Ashe said. He started towards the staircases as the other two began making their way down. The three siblings met in an embrace-- Ashe gave a joyous laugh as he greeted them while Cyril stood awkwardly to the side. Now that he could get a better look at the other two, he could definitely see the resemblance. They were twins and held more resemblance to each other than to anyone else, but they had the same green eyes as Ashe and the same freckled face. Their hair was a few shades darker, but not unrecognizable. Cyril took a moment to remember how old they were. Five years younger than Ashe, he recalled being told, which would put them at nineteen. 

“You must be Cyril!” the girl, Kezia, exclaimed. She turned away from her older brother to face Cyril instead. Her hair came down to a bit below her shoulders and was tied in two neat braids. “I’ve heard so much about you!” 

“Yeah, really. Ashe won’t stop talking about you,” said the boy, Acker. His hair was much shorter than his sister’s and spiked out in every which way. “I feel like I know you already!”

“Uh, yeah,” Cyril responded, not sure what to say. How was he supposed to introduce himself if they already knew who he was? “That’s me.” The twins tore away from Ashe completely, rushing to stand in front of Cyril. Surprised, he took a step back.

“You look just like how he described!” Kezia remarked. “You’re attending the Officer’s Academy, right? We’re both going next year!”

“Yeah,” Acker affirmed. “We’ve been helping rebuild some of the villages around here, so that’s why we didn’t go this year. But it’s good to see someone older going there! We won’t be out of place." 

“O-older…?” Cyril furrowed his brow. He was used to being the youngest-- no one had ever called him _ old _ before. That was weird. Besides, there were plenty of twenty-something-year-old students, but he wasn’t allowed the time to say so before Kezia spoke again.

“Can I ask you about the academy? Ashe has told me some things but I want to know more!”

“Yeah, me too! Tell me everything-- I want to be prepared!” chimed Acker.

“O-okay, you two--!” Ashe interjected. Cyril looked to him-- the other looked a tiny bit panicked. “Cyril just got here! I still need to show him around.”

“Oh, can we come? I want to show him around too!” Kezia linked arms with Cyril as she spoke. As Cyril flinched, Ashe’s eyes widened in horror. He knew Cyril wasn’t keen on getting touched by strangers. Cyril himself grew immediately tense, but not wanting to offend Ashe’s little sister, made no movement to pull away. Even when Acker took his other arm.

“Yeah, let’s go already!” he said. Cyril looked from Kezia to Acker, then back to Ashe. His face must have clearly read ‘save me’ as Ashe was quick to step up to the three of them, taking his sibling’s hands and pulling them away.

“Okay, let’s go! But please don’t grab people like that.”

Kezia frowned. “We just want to make him feel welcome!”

“He’s practically our brother!” Acker whined. “Aren’t you two getting married soon?”

“I-I--” Ashe turned bright red. Cyril’s own heart skipped a beat. Did Ashe tell them that? He looked up to his partner who looked away as soon as their gazes met. “We-we haven’t--” The twins both broke out into laughter. 

“You get flustered too easily,” Kezia teased. “Okay, let’s get going! There’s a lot to see. Are you ready, Cyril?” She turned to him with a kind smile, one very similar to the smile Ashe usually wore.

“Uh, sure,” he managed. Feeling a little overwhelmed, he wasn’t sure what else to say. It seemed that the twins liked him all right, but he really didn’t want to mess that up. If he said or did the wrong thing and upset one of them, wouldn’t that just make Ashe angry? Besides, he had never been a guest in a noble’s house before, so he wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to act.

“Lord Ashe!” The attention of the four of them was grabbed by a voice from down the entrance hall. Cyril turned to see who he assumed to be one of Ashe’s knights making their way towards them. “I’m glad to see your safe return! There’s a few things we have to go over with you."

“Oh-- of course! I’ll be right there. Cyril, you can come with me if you--”

“He can stay with us!” Kezia interrupted. “We’ll be done showing him around by the time you’re finished.”

“Er, well…” Ashe glanced towards Cyril and Cyril glanced wordlessly back, hoping he didn’t look as panicked as he felt. Really, though, the thought of being alone with the twins was nothing short of terrifying. He hadn’t even managed to say a full sentence to them yet-- how was he supposed to entertain them all on his own?

“It’s settled, then! See you later, Ashe.” Before Ashe had a chance to respond, Kezia dashed forward to grab Cyril’s hand back and began leading him away with Acker in tow.

“Uh-- ya don’t wanna wait for your brother?” Cyril tried, but the twins both shook their heads. 

“He’ll join us later,” Acker replied.

“Hey-- Kezia, Acker!” Ashe called after them. After letting out a quiet sigh of defeat, Cyril mouthed ‘It’s okay,’ back to him, then allowed himself to be led away.

The twins dragged him through the whole house. They walked for so long that he must have seen everything, but the tour wasn’t very thorough. Either that or the twins just spoke so fast, he missed half of their explanations-- that was very possible. As the three of them walked, the twins battered Cyril with questions, most of which he wasn’t even given the time to answer as the siblings continuously talked over one another. 

“What did you do before the war?” One of Acker’s questions was finally followed by silence. Kezia must have wanted to hear the answer, too.

“I worked as Lady Rhea’s servant,” Cyril said. “She saved me after I was captured by soldiers from the Leicester Alliance.” 

“Really? That’s amazing!” Acker exclaimed.

“Uh, is it…?” Cyril himself thought the answer was a little dull. Not that the experience itself was boring, but he figured they were hoping for more of an epic tale.

“Ashe told us that you two were a lot alike. So you must have lost your parents too, huh?” Kezia said.

“Yeah. That’s how I was captured-- I was workin’ for the Almyran army ‘cause the king didn’t have anything in the way of protections for war orphans like me. I didn’t have any other option.”

“We didn’t get any help, either.” Acker’s face contorted to a frown as he spoke. “Well, not until Ashe met Lonato, anyway.”

“I’ve heard a lot about him. It’s good he was able to help you three. I’m sorry that…” Cyril trailed off. He wanted to apologize for what happened to Lord Lonato, but wasn’t sure if doing so would dredge up bad memories for the twins. Though he technically was part of the church, he didn’t feel responsible for the Lord’s death-- he hadn’t been involved, after all. Furthermore, he held some strong prejudice against those who aligned themselves with the Western Church. They tried to kill Lady Rhea and Lord Lonato was a big part of it. But none of that had anything to do with Ashe or his siblings and Cyril truly did feel sorry that they lost the man who saved them from their earlier misfortune. None of them deserved that. If Lady Rhea had been killed after giving him so much hope, he would have been at a complete loss of what to do.

“Don’t look so sad!” Kezia chimed, breaking the silence Cyril let fall. “It was a long time ago. I mean, of course we miss him and it would be nice if he was here… But we don’t have that choice. And things worked out, so it’s okay.” 

Acker nodded in agreement. “Yeah! Sometimes it’s still hard, but Kezzy’s right. All we can do is focus on working hard and moving forward! It’s what Lonato would want.” For the first time since he stepped foot on the estate, Cyril smiled.

“You two really take after your brother,” he said. “That’s good. He’s one of the strongest people I know.” And he really meant that. He knew a lot of people who had gone through tragedy after tragedy, but very few had been able to keep such a cheery air about them. Cyril knew that he himself had a tendency to come off as much colder than he intended without even realizing it.

“Aw, thank you, Cyril!” Kezia returned his smile. 

“I believe it,” Acker added. “He’s the reason the two of us are still here.”

Since the weather was nice, they decided to end the tour in the courtyard. The sight reminded Cyril of the greenhouse back at the monastery. There was a plethora of different flowers and all of them were well cared for. Some, he recognized, were even foreign and no doubt difficult to grow in Faerghus. “Does Ashe take care of these himself?” he asked. 

“He used to, but I do most of the work now!” Acker said proudly. “Ashe doesn’t have much free time anymore, so I took over.”

“They’re all really healthy looking,” Cyril said. “Ya do a good job.”

Acker beamed. “Thanks! Oh-- come look at these ones over here!” Cyril followed his lead to a corner blooming with baby’s breath. He lit up at the sight of the familiar flowers. “These are your favorite, right?” Acker asked. “Ashe planted them for you! And I made sure they were in good shape for your visit.”

“They are!” Cyril spoke a little louder than he meant to, but it was hard to contain his contentment. He walked up to the flowers to get a closer look, beaming down at them as he did. Though the monastery greenhouse had been mostly revived, there were still some plants that had yet to be re-added. Baby’s breath was among them-- Cyril didn’t even realize how much he missed the tiny flowers until he saw them. He was surprised that Ashe even remembered they were his favorite.

“You like them?” Acker prompted eagerly. “It’s hard to grow them in a place this cold, so I’m glad they worked out.”

“I do,” Cyril responded, turning back towards Acker. “Thanks for workin’ so hard.”

“Anytime!” Acker laughed. The blush on his face showed he felt just as bashful from the praise as he felt proud. “It’s a lot of fun, I really like gardening.” 

“It shows.”

“Oh, Cyril!” Kezia spoke up then to catch his attention. “You have a wyvern, right?” Cyril gave a nod. “Did you bring it here?”

“Yeah, she’s by the gates.”

It was Kezia’s turn to light up. “Can I meet her?”

“Uh…” Cyril thought for a moment. He didn’t really see why not. “I guess so.”

“Yay! Let’s go!”

“Now? I thought we were going to wait for Ashe here,” Acker complained.

“We’ll come back. Come on-- I want to see the wyvern!” With that, Kezia ran off towards the front of the estate.

“Hey-- wait!” Cyril called after her, running to catch up. He didn’t consider his wyvern dangerous, but he certainly preferred to be present when she was approached by strangers. Once they got to the main gates, the wyvern was exactly where Cyril had left her-- curled up and napping between a couple of pine trees. 

Kezia let out a gasp upon the sight of her. “She’s so cute!” she exclaimed. “What’s her name?” 

“Mahine,” Cyril answered. Upon the sound of her name, the wyvern’s eyes opened and her head lifted. She let out a happy huff, rising to her feet before hopping two short distances towards them. The ground shook a bit under her weight. Kezia fell back a couple steps in surprise, bumping into Acker who had begrudgingly followed behind them. Cyril, on the other hand, smiled at Mahine and reached a hand out towards her. The wyvern chuffed and nuzzled his palm.

“She’s adorable! Can I pet her?” Kezia recovered rather quickly. Her enthusiasm earned a wide-eyed stare from her brother.

“You want to pet her?! Aren’t you scared she’ll bite your hand off?”

“She won’t do that, she’s real nice. Here, you can pet the top of her head.” Cyril stepped aside, making room for Kezia. She happily stepped forward and reached out. Mahine looked at her, tilting her head to the side. When Kezia gave her a gentle pat on the head, Mahine closed her eyes and chuffed again.

“You can pet her too, Acker,” Cyril said. The boy looked terrified-- Cyril wanted him to see that wyverns weren’t really that scary. Acker just shook his head. “Have ya not seen a wyvern before?”

“Nope!” Kezia answered for him. “We’ve only ever seen horses and pegasus around here. But I’ve always wanted to see a wyvern! When I start at the academy, I’m going to train to be a wyvern rider.”

“She’s always liked lizardy creatures,” Acker said, wrinkling his nose. “She used to hide frogs and salamanders in my pillowcase every summer.” Cyril could only half-stifle a laugh. “Hey-- that’s not funny!”

“It’s kinda funny,” Cyril said.

“Ha, I told you!” Kezia teased. 

Acker huffed at her. “Well, whatever. I’m going to train to be a sniper.”

“Wyverns riders are cooler! Right, Cyril?”

“Uh, well. I’m a sniper, too, so--” 

“Really?! That’s so cool! Can you teach me how to shoot?” Acker asked. 

“Has Ashe not taught you?”

“Yeah, but I want to get different perspectives. That way, I can get even better! And then I’ll be better than the other students at the academy!”

“Can you teach me how to ride wyverns? I want to be ahead of the other students, too!” 

The twins both beamed at him, awaiting a response. “Sure, I guess,” he said. “But I don’t know how much I can teach ya in a week.”

“That’s okay!” Kezia said. “You’re coming to live here after you graduate, right?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Great! We’ll have some time to practice with you before we start school, then.” Kezia turned back to Mahine, happily patting the top of her head. “Come on, Acker, she’s so nice! It sounds like she’s purring.” 

“I promise she won’t hurt ya,” Cyril said. “And you’ll have to get used to them. They’re all over the academy.” Acker hummed in consideration, but he didn’t look convinced. He just crossed his arms and stared at Mahine, his features creased with nerves.

“So this is where you all ended up,” Ashe’s voice called from behind them.

“Ashe!” Kezia pulled herself away from the wyvern only to meet her brother. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about Mahine? I love her! Cyril’s going to teach me how to ride her!” 

“He’s going to practice archery with me first,” Acker insisted.

“Hey, that’s not fair! You can practice archery anytime, but we don’t always have a wyvern!”

“You haven’t just been fighting over Cyril this whole time, have you?” Ashe asked.

“Nah, it’s been fine,” Cyril said. His words seemed to take a world off Ashe’s shoulders.

“Really? Oh, good,” he sighed. “Anyway, sorry that took so long. I should be free for the night, so let’s all get ready for dinner.”

“Okay! Come on, Cyril!” Kezia skipped over to him, linking their arms together once more. This time, Cyril wasn’t made nearly as nervous by the contact. “Do you remember where the dining hall is?”

“Uh-- I think so?”

“I’ll show you again!” And with that, Kezia led him away, Ashe and Acker following close behind.

* * *

Once dinner was over, Ashe brought Cyril to his quarters to settle in before going to sleep. While Cyril dug through his things to get his sleeping clothes, Ashe took a seat on the side of the bed. 

"So… did everything go okay?" Ashe asked.

"Yeah, I think so. They _ are _ a lot, though."

Ashe laughed. "I know. They've always been like that. They aren't _ too _much for you, are they?"

"I'll get used to it. I got used to you, didn’t I?" After retrieving the clothes he was looking for, Cyril moved to take a place next to Ashe. "They really do take after you."

"Do they?" Ashe tilted his head. "How so?"

"They're really accepting, among other things. I was thinkin’ they’d come up with all sorts of excuses to not like me.”

“Of course not! They’ve been asking me to bring you here for ages. And there’s nothing about you they could dislike, anyway.”

“Ya sure about that?”

Ashe smiled and affirmed with a nod. “I’m positive.”

Cyril smiled back. “There’s nothin’ to dislike about them, either. And they both seem really excited to learn from me. I, uh, wasn’t expectin’ to be teaching anybody, but that’s okay.”

“Thanks for humoring them,” Ashe laughed. “I’m really glad you all got along.”

“Yeah, me too. One thing, though.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Did ya really tell them we’re gettin’ married?”

“I--” Ashe’s eyes widened, his face turning a deep red. Obviously too embarrassed to keep eye contact, he snapped his gaze to the other side of the room. “I didn’t-- I just-- all I said was that I would _ like _ to marry you someday, so they should take care not to scare you off! Acker just… jumps to conclusions sometimes.”

Cyril laughed. “Well, they didn’t scare me off, so don’t worry. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

“Good! I don’t want you to.” Ashe turned back to him, his face still a little pink. He leaned closer to Cyril then, giving him a quick kiss. “Welcome to the family.”

Cyril’s heart sped up. _ A family, _ he thought. Feeling a rush of happiness at Ashe’s words, he leaned against the other’s shoulder and smiled. “I’m glad to be here.”


End file.
